THE
MYSTERIOUS END OF THE FIRST
MILLENNIUM.It would seem that the end of the First Millennium
was not only noteworthy for the establishment of the first Viking
Settlements on the west coast of Greenland, it was also around this
time that the Arctic Dorset peoples mysteriously disappeared and the
Thule peoples simultaneously emerged to take their place. Who were the
replacements? According to the
prevailing view, they were whale-hunting Inuit who originated in
Alaska,
but moved right through the Arctic Archipelago, on into Hudson Bay,
then
further east and north to Baffin Island, Devon Island, the eastern
coast
of Ellsmere Island and ultimately reached Thule on the northwest coast
of
Greenland. This is in fact how the name "Thule" culture originated,
largely
from the researches carried out in the early 1920's by Danish
archaeologist
Therkel Matthiassen at both Naujan (near Repulse Bay in the Canadian
Central
Arctic) and the Greenland Thule site itself. But just before this, as
James
D. Keyser reported in INDIAN ROCK ART OF THE COLUMBIA PLATEAU
(Douglas
& McIntyre, Vancouver 1992:127):

Between 19I9 and 1927, a
heated
debate appeared in the pages of the Spokane Chronicle and Spokesman
Review newspapers concerning the origin of Columbia Plateau rock
art.
No fewer than two dozen published articles expounded the views of
Professor
Oluf Opsjon, who argued vigorously that the carvings and paintings were
runes
documenting the exploration and colonization of the Plateau by Vikings
at
about A.D. 1000.

while during the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921-1924)
it was established that:

The archaeological site known
as Naujan (called auyat by local people) is one of the most important
of its time period. Here in 1922 Therkel Matthiassen, a member of the
Danish Fifth Thule Expedition, conducted the first scientific
archaeological investigations in the Canadian Arctic. He excavated
twelve of the twenty house ruins and defined the culture of the people
who had lived in them... The ancient occupants of these shelters are
known as the Thule (pronounced Too-lee) people. Ancestors of the modern
Inuit, they had migrated eastward across the Canadian Arctic from
Alaska about 1000 years ago. They settled at Naujan around A.D. 1200,
and were hunters of the great bowhead whales. (The
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center: Naujan:
Repulse Bay )

Twelve out of twenty house ruins? What became of the
rest, and was this sort of data and that obtained from other Thule
sites
(e.g., Nunguvik) sufficient justification to define a new culture in
the
Arctic? Apparently it was, for Mathiassen's 1920's Thule-Alaskan
concept
was happily embraced thereafter with the Northwest Passage effectively
sealed
shut by the accompanying west-to-east incursions of the "Thule"
peoples.
Moreover, all subsequent settlements have also been explained in terms
of
this same Thule culture. But even so there are a number of problems
with
the suggested influx of Alaskan Inuit whalers into the Eastern Arctic.
Firstly,
Peter Schlederman (1981:594) has pointed out that the notion of Whaling
as
a primary Thule activity is not necessarily supported by the available
evidence,
at least on Ellesmere and Skraeling Islands:

Although some of our later
discoveries on Skraeling Island confirm the practice of whaling, I
believe that its
importance has been exaggerated. Baleen and whalebone are durable
items,
and they were obviously reused in Thule house construction. I estimate
that
all the whalebone in the Bache Peninsula represents a total of no more
than
30 or 40 whales. Since the Thule culture flourished on Ellesmere Island
on
and off for about seven centuries, whaling hardly seems to have been a
mainstay
of the economy. (Peter Schlederman, "Eskimo and Viking Finds in the
High
Arctic," National Geographic Magazine, Vol. 159, No. 5, May
1981:594)

Secondly, the notion of large scale Inuit movement
over such vast distances - literally thousands of miles from Alaska to
Greenland - is at odds with the knowledge and experience necessary to
survive in these harsh and unforgiving regions. It is not by chance
that the Inuit refer to themselves in terms of a predominant activity,
or people of a specific area, i.e., Netsillingmiut - "People of the
Seal" as explained by Rachel Qitsualik, who lists more than 60 such
groups in her Inuit
Map of Nunuvut and the Northwest Territories. These specialized and
localized names reinforce the realization that it is would be a major
undertaking to leave a known ecological
niche with well-established seasonal rounds for an entirely new one.
Yet
for the Alaskan Inuit to have reached the west coast of Greenland this
would
have to have taken place each time they moved, and in each instance
there
would still be the ever-present necessity of having to prepare and
provide
for the long arctic winters. Nor should this be confused with
traditional local movements between summer and winter camps in known
environments. So perhaps a few Alaskan Whale hunters moved east
from time to time, but
that far and in sufficient numbers to replace the Dorset peoples in the
Eastern
Arctic? Hardly likely. So what did happen?

MAP 1b. THE SHORT-HAUL ROUTES TO
NORTH
AMERICA

Referring to
Map1b, it seems probable that there
never was such a thing as a "Thule Culture" per se, or a
full-blown influx of Alaskan Inuit into the Eastern Arctic around the
turn of the First Millennium. It is more reasonable and more logical to
explain the so-called Thule culture as the natural progression of Thule-Vikings
moving westwards into
the Arctic regions, then across the Arctic Archipelago and eventually
further west again. And the Dorset? Unless they were decimated by
European diseases (an unfortunate possibility), they neither faded away
nor disappeared without a trace, they simply changed by adopting
improved methodology obtained from the Vikings as they passed through
and perhaps from time to time also stayed. And here a Viking presence
would perhaps be difficult to differentiate. At times the Vikings might
well have occupied or even co-existed on some of the
choicer Dorset sites - a reasonable assumption given that most sites
would have been favourably located with some form of ready-made (if
rudimentary) habitation. Perhaps some sites were abandoned completely,
while others eventually reverted back to their original Inuit users,
further masking signs of a Viking presence. Then again, there is the
obvious corollary: if Inuit hunters from Alaska could reach Greenland
in skin covered boats, what was there to stop the Vikings from
proceeding at least as far in the opposite direction, i.e., journeying
from Greenland to Alaska and beyond? Lack of arctic knowhow? Hardly,
given that the Vikings had already managed to survive on the northwest
coast of Greenland. Then there is the supposition that whale hunting in
the Eastern Arctic was exclusively an Inuit practice. Here again, in
light of their own needs and requirements the Vikings can hardly be
excluded. Also, given the dearth of construction materials in the
Arctic, the same argument likely applies
- in some instances at least - to the "Thule" sites that featured
whalebone
in their construction. Here - isolated occurrences and/or cooperative
ventures
alike - small Viking ships would surely be useful, as would be the
available
manpower and Viking maritime expertise itself.So what is more likely to
have
taken place in the Eastern Arctic around the turn of the First
Millennium? That the Alaskan Inuit in their skin-covered boats traveled
thousands of miles
across the Arctic Archipelago as far as Thule on the northwest coast of
Greenland,
or that the Vikings - already settled lower down the Greenland coast,
with
their superb ships, superior tools and their penchant for exploration,
simply
moved up the coast to Thule as a natural progression? And after that,
sailed
a short distance cross the top of Baffin Bay to Ellsmere Island (a
scant
25 miles) and progressively extended their westward exploration to
include
other "Thule" sites along the way. To gain a more detailed
understanding of this reversal it may be useful to consider the Area
and the Background
information given in the Virtual
Slide Show of the McDougall Sound Archaeological Research Project
[MSARP] directed by Dr. James Helmer and Dr. Genevieve LeMoine of the
University
of Calgary.

Then there is the
likelihood of early exploration
into and around Hudson Bay, connecting up with the various river
systems there - the Missinaibi and the Albany down to the Great Lakes,
for example, south and southwest via the Severn and Nelson, or westward
via the Churchill and the Saskatchewan Rivers (for the Nelson River,
see: Michael A. Zalar's Cartographical
Speculations and a short discussion concerning a possible Viking
journey south via Hudson Bay). Here one would not require the Northwest
Passage
at all, simply the route into Hudson Bay itself. Moreover, even in the
present century a conservative estimate of over 100 days between July
20 and November 1 is available for safe navigation through Hudson
Strait to the port of Churchill (see: "The Possibilities of the Hudson
Bay Company," National Geographic Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 3,
1907:209).
Moreover, given relatively easy access
into Hudson Bay it seems reasonable to suggest that exploration into
the heart of North America could have been attempted around or
shortly after the time of the Sagas, i.e., "about a thousand years
ago." In view of the lengthy period under consideration, however,
(from at least 1000 to 1250 CE) it would be difficult to put a limit
on just how far such expeditions might have travelled, let alone what
may
or may not have resulted. Nevertheless, there might still be a few
residual indicators, e.g., in the occurrence of pre-industrial ceramics
in the Canadian Provinces that provide the suggested access to the
western interior via Hudson Bay itself. Here at least the time
element is correct (if not almost familiar), i.e., the text accompanying Civilization.ca's "Gather
Around this Pot - South Indian Lake, Manitoba presentation states:

This
is a shallow ceramic container that has been
interpreted as a plate or possibly a lamp. It was found in 1971 at site
HiLp-3 on Southern Indian Lake in Northern Manitoba ... These
artifacts are quite distinctive and limited in distribution to
Northern Manitoba where they are part
of the Kame Hills
Complex, an archaeological culture dated to between
250 and
1100 years ago and believed to be ancestral to the
Cree
people who inhabit the region today. The shallow
container is
decorated with the same basic elements as are found on the more
numerous globular pots (for example see Exhibit Specimens 6 and 7). The
upper surface of the rim is marked with a double row of punctates which
raised bosses on the opposite surface. Similarly, there is a pattern
on the plate made with punctates whose meaning is open to
interpretation. (emphases supplied)

This
is a ceramic container of a variety known as
Clearwater Lake
Punctate. It was found on Whitefish Island on Amisk Lake, Saskatchewan
in
the 1950's by Gina Sewap, of the local Cree First Nation. Its
distinctive features include an encircling ring of exterior
punctates
which raise interior bosses, located just below an
everted lip.
The body of the pot is textured with cord or textile impressions. Pots
of this variety are found over a wide area including parts of Eastern
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. They were
being made during the late prehistoric period, dated to between
250 and 1100 years ago. These ceramics are believed to be
ancestral to the Cree people of that region. (emphases
suppplied)

Thus, though perhaps
coincidentally, ceramic
items of
the type reported above occur in regions that provide lengthy routes
into the Interior from Hudson Bay via major western rivers, notably the
Churchill and the Saskatchewan to the west, with other river routes (red on Map 2d) also available
to the south.

Before moving on it
is appropriate here to
suggest that
although the importance of river transportation in North America has
been
acknowledged, the significance of coastal routes and the potential for
connecting
with the former has been largely under appreciated. Yet rivers have
long
provided the means for covering great distances in relatively small
vessels
that depend almost entirely on rowing or paddling (in the present
context
see: Canoe
Saskatchewan
Waterways) . Here one might suggest that
greater
emphasis should be placed on the historical importance of all
major
North American river systems. In addition to the Hudson Bay rivers
mentioned
above, we may include the Mackenzie and Yukon rivers in the Northwest,
the
Fraser, the Columbia and the Snake from the West Coast, east of the
Rockies
the Bow River and the Qu'Appelle to Lake Winnipeg, and the Red River of
the
North down to Minnesota. Then there are the Missouri, the Colorado and
the
Arkansas rivers of the Western Interior, and further east the Ohio and
the
mighty Mississippi, as indeed already emphasized by Gloria Farley in
her
1994 publication In Plain Sight (see
especially
Chapter 2: They
Came in Ships).

In general it may be
observed that apart from the
St. Lawrence, eastern rivers are not necessarily that useful for deep
inland
excursions into North America. Thus when archaeologist Robert McGee
writes:
"The Vikings got here first, but why didn't they Stay?" (Canadian
Geographic
Magazine, August/September 1988) a partial answer might be that as
far
journeying inland was concerned, the Hudson Bay route may have been
preferred
- whether approached via the Greenland and Ellesmere Island coastlines,
or
into Hudson Strait from Greenland across the Davis Strait. Or even
continuing
down the Eastern Seaboard, around Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico
to
the Mississippi Delta and on perhaps to Mexico, and - all difficulties
and
hardships notwithstanding - through the Northwest Passage for the
Pacific
Northwest and beyond, both to the west and to the south. Lastly, since
neither
the destinations nor the agendas associated with the sudden departure
of
the Vikings from Greenland are known, the assumption that they crossed
to
North America and simply settled there may itself be only part of a
more
complex equation. Perhaps some did stay, but not necessarily in great
numbers
in the east, or again, perhaps others moved further and further south
on
both sides of the continent. Unlikely premises to be sure, yet the
possibilities
nevertheless remain, even if they are at odds with prevailing
viewpoints
on the matter.

THE WAY WEST: THE
BLOCKED PASSAGE.Collecting the various indicators mentioned in
previous sections, even at this early stage nagging questions begin to
arise--not
least of all how is it that so little real progress has been made with
respect to possible Viking incursions into the northern regions of the
Americas. Their
presence on this continent was after all recognized as long ago as the
1960's
following Helge Ingstad's discovery of the Viking settlement at L'Anse
Aux
Meadows in Newfoundland. One would have surely expected a major
increase
in interest and concerted efforts to determine where else the Vikings
may
(or may not) have landed-- at least on the eastern shores of Canada, if
not
further inland. But unfortunately and for whatever reason, very little
in
the way of positive action in this regard appears to have taken place,
or
perhaps better stated, what has been done since that time has either
been greatly minimized or largely ignored.But in any event, once the Vikings were established
on the west coast of Greenland at the end of the first millennium it is
reasonable to suppose that they would have explored the potentials of
the Labrador/Ungava Peninsula region quite early on. Furthermore, given
the proximity to the Treeline
and the availability of game, wildfowl, marine animals, etc., hunting
sites--both
short and long-term-- might reasonably have become small,
semi-permanent settlements
with or without the assistance of the local Inuit. It would therefore
seem
a logical step to investigate such possibilities and look for signs of
passage
there, if nothing more. As it happened, excavations on the west side of
Ungava
Bay carried out in the 1950s and 1960s by Canadian archaeologist Thomas
Lee
did indeed suggest a Norse presence in the region (see Map 2a
and Lee's published research in the bibliography). But although Lee's
investigations
preceded Helge Ingstad's1961 discovery of the Viking settlement at
L'Anse
Aux Meadows in Newfoundland and also continued parallel with it, no
great
interest appears to have been developed concerning the possible
presence
of the Norse in either northern Labrador or the Ungava region. While it
cannot
be said that Lee's material was suppressed per se, it hardly
seems
to have been entirely welcome either, and even now it appears to be
largely
ignored. In fact it seems likely that it would have remained that way--
detailed
inclusion in James Robert Enterline's VIKING AMERICA (1972)
notwithstanding--had
it not been for Farley Mowat and his recent book: The Farfarers
(Seal
Books, Toronto,1999) which in effect made Lee's findings and
conclusions
available to all.

Then there is the
major site at Native Point on
Southampton Island to be considered--a place that would have been a
logical continuance for Vikings westbound across the top of Hudson Bay
from the Ungava Region. Major site? It would seem so, and a major
oddity into the bargain in terms of its limited excavation and
subsequent position in the general scheme
of things. Writing in the November 1956 issue of the National
Geographic
Magazine Henry B. Collins (anthropologist for the Smithsonian
Institution)
describes his 1954 visit to the Native point as follows:

In all my years of
Eskimo
archaeology I had never seen anything to compare with the ruins that
lay
before me. Some 90 semisubterranean dwellings, the
largest
aggregation of old Eskimo house ruins in the Canadian Arctic, spread
over
a 30-acre expanse. Jumbles of stone from walls and roofs filled
the
sunken interiors and entrance passages of the best preserved houses. Of
others,
only slight depressions in the grassy terrain remained. Skulls and
bones
of animals eaten by the Sadlermiuts, mostly seals, caribou, and
walruses,
littered the ground outside the ruins. Hundreds of stone cairns and
meat
caches stood near the site and ranged about it for miles around. More
than
100 human burials dotted the vicinity. Usually the bodies rested in
carefully
constructed stone vaults, but some lay on the surface with only a
surrounding
enclosure of stones. To excavate the site completely would have
required
an army of archaeologists. We would be able only to sample it, digging
just
enough to obtain a rounded picture of the material culture and way of
life
of the Sadlermiut Eskimos. (Henry B. Collins, "Vanished Mystery
Men
of Hudson Bay," National Geographic Magazine, Vol. CX, No. 5,
November
1956:669-686, emphases supplied).

What became of the Sadlermiut of Southampton Island?
The all too often tragic story of contact, disease and ultimate
disaster
it would seem, as Collins explains:

Victims of pestilence after
pestilence, the Sadlermiuts numbered scarcely more than 70 survivors in
1896. Then,
in the summer of 1902, a ship stopped to trade at Cape Low, Southampton
Island. Sadlermiuts who came in contact with the crew contracted
disease. Carried home to Native Point, they infected the last remnant
of the Sadlermiuts.
Visitors to Native Point the following winter found a scene of death.
Not
an Eskimo had survived. Some lay in their houses on sleeping platforms;
others
on the ground outside, where their dogs still ran about. In a corner of
one
of the stone ruins I found the tiny skeleton of an infant and imagined
its
last futile wailings for a mother who could no longer tend her
child.("Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay," National Geographic
Magazine, Vol. CX, No. 5, November 1956:674).

So passed the Sadlermiut--an unusual people who
spoke an unusual dialect, and also, it would seem, people who
originally came
from Baffin Island to the east. As for Native Point, it cannot be said
that
it was completely ignored either, for Dr. William E.Taylor (a Canadian
archaeologist who accompanied Collins on the 1954 trip to Southampton
Island) published a paper on the site under the auspices of the
Canadian Museum of Civilization in1960. As Farley Mowat recounts in the
FarFarers (1999:267-273, see below) Taylor subsequently took
over from Thomas Lee and also worked on some of the Ungava sites, but
he seems to have done did little more to investigate the suspected
Norse presence there, or indeed actively support the notion. A few
years later in the 1960's the same William E. Taylor also participated
in the on-going excavations of the Viking settlement at L'Anse Aux
Meadows in Newfoundland. It seems unlikely that the subject of other
Norse locations in eastern Canada did not crop up during this time, and
that Taylor--who had
visited both Native Point on Southampton Island and the Ungava Bay
region as an archaeologist--would not have been eagerly questioned
about this. Given the subsequent lack of interest in these lower arctic
regions, one can only wonder what Taylor--subsequently lauded as
"Canada's first professional Arctic archaeologist"--may (or may not)
have said on this particular subject. But either way it seems to have
done him little harm. As Farley Mowat records:"In
1967 Dr. William Taylor became director of
Canada's National Museum of Man, a post he held (as director, then as
director
emeritus) until 1994, when he died, full of honours and distinctions." (The
FarFarers, Seal Books, Toronto, 1999:273).

The museum was
subsequently renamed the Canadian
Museum of Civilization; in an April 2000 the institution announced in
the following communique that:

Several months ago,
archaeologist Patricia Sutherland discovered specimens of spun yarn, as
well as artifacts showing traces of unusual woodworking techniques,
from the remains of the Palaeo-Eskimo settlement of Nunguvik on
northern Baffin Island. She has
since found similar collections of yarn and worked wood at three other
Baffin
Island sites over 1,000 kilometers south of Nunguvik, and what appear
to
be comparable specimens have also been reported from a site in northern
Labrador.
All of these sites were occupied by Dorset culture Palaeo-Eskimos, who
inhabited the Arctic before the arrival of the Inuit beginning about a
thousand years ago.Since neither the Palaeo-Eskimos nor
their immediate Inuit successors spun yarn or worked wood by sawing,
nailing and morticing, the artifacts pointed to another culture. These
technologies are characteristic of medieval Europe, including the Norse
farming society which developed in southwestern Greenland between
approximately A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1450.Previous evidence of Norse contact with
the Aboriginal peoples of Arctic Canada has been limited to fragments
of metal or other artifacts that could have been obtained through brief
coastal trading contacts. The material which Sutherland has discovered
suggests a more extensive association by Europeans with the people of
Baffin Island and adjacent regions and possibly a degree of contact
which was sufficiently intense to influence the technology of the local
people. Radiocarbon dates on samples of spun yarn
and other specimens also suggest that a European presence in Arctic
Canada
may have begun earlier than previously thought. One of the first
challenges of the Helluland Archaeology Project will be to assess the
date of the apparent European material in the region. ("New archaeology
research project explores possible early European contact in Canadian
Arctic," Canadian Museum of Civilization, April 25, 2000, Hull,
Quebec)

What this release fails to mention, however, is that
the pieces of spun yarn and wood from Nunguvik were discovered in the
1980's
and that they had been sent to the museum years ago where they remained
neglected and unprocessed. It was only Sutherland's expertise gained in
Greenland on one hand and her diligence in recognizing the similarities
of this material when she recently came across it on the other that
brought the matter to light.
The positive actions that followed are encouraging, but it is difficult
to
agree with the first part of the release that claims: "This project has the potential to tell a
chapter of
Canadian and North American history that was not previously thought to
exist." The statement completely downplays
the discoveries of Norse
items in the High Arctic made by Peter Schlederman in the 1970s (see
the
latter's: "Eskimo and Viking Finds in the High Arctic," National
Geographic
Magazine, Vol. 159, No. 5, May 1981; also below) and also makes no
mention
of the many sites investigated by Thomas Lee in the Ungava Region
alluded
to earlier--the results of which have long been available (see the
Bibliography
below).Nor for that matter does it acknowledge the lines of
inquiry pursued in considerable detail by James Robert Enterline in his
1972
publication:VIKING AMERICA, or the latter's second thesis, that:

Leif Eiriksson's successors in
Greenland eventually vacated that land and spread throughout North
America, as far as
Alaska, meanwhile sending to Europe geographical information that
sparked Columbus' voyage." (Robert James Enterline, VIKING AMERICA
The Norse Crossings and their Legacy, DoubleDay, Garden City,
1972:xviii).

No doubt these were major points of contention
almost guaranteed to be opposed by champions of the status quo
when the
book came out. To make matters worse Enterline also included a
third--the
first part of the work itself, namely a possible location for Vinland
on
the west side of Ungava Bay. Say what one will--agree or disagree--it
was
a thoroughly researched, detailed approach to the subject. As indeed
was
the entire book--the second part of which still likely remains one of
the
most detailed scholarly discourses on the question of prior knowledge
of
the Americas by and before Columbus.As for the Northwest Passage, Enterline also wrote
in 1972 that:

With their ships, the Norsemen
could in one or two summers make the voyage between Alaska and
Greenland which had
taken the Eskimo people centuries to accomplish. It is not really
necessary to have steel-bowed supertankers with gigantic engines to
sail through the Northwest Passage so long as one does have patience,
understanding of ice conditions and skill in ship handling (Robert
James Enterline, VIKING
AMERICA The Norse Crossings and their Legacy, DoubleDay, Garden
City,
1972:91).

Naturally enough, in pursuing his thesis concerning
the western side of Ungava Bay Enterline paid due attention to
archaeologist
Thomas Lee's findings there. Furthermore, in pursuit of the suggested
westward
expansion of the Norse across the Canadian arctic he also covered a
further
contentious issue--the possibility of inter-marriage between the Norse
and
the Inuit, noting the controversy such suggestions had generated in the
past:

A subject that goes hand in
hand with the question of mutual interaction of the Norse and Eskimo
cultures
after a hypothetical permanent move to the central Arctic is the
question
of interracial mixing. Ever since Viking times the Norsemen have left
their
genes behind at places they visited, and the question is not one of
whether
or not mixing took place. Rather, the question is whether it took place
to
such an extent that the ultimate disappearance of the Norsemen can be
attributed
to their complete absorption into the Eskimo race. When two different
races
occupy the same territory they tend to maintain their racial
separateness
so long as they maintain their cultural and economic separateness. But
once
the different cultures have become amalgamated, many of the taboos
against
intermixing disappear. In 1942 Knud Fischer-Moller reported the finding
in
a Greenland church graveyard of two skeletons having features that
prove
that mixing was not unheard of even in the settlements. The political
infusion
of Germanic studies during the second quarter of the twentieth century
may
have prevented some Teutonic scholars from considering this question
rationally,
but before that time there were many adherents to the theory that the
Norsemen
had been completely absorbed into the Eskimo race. As early as 1776, an
Icelandic scholar propounded the theory of racial absorption, and
around the turn of the twentieth century this came to be known as the
Nansen Theory. The trouble with this theory was that it was based
primarily upon inductive speculation rather than upon much explicit
evidence. Then in the early 1900s a discovery by the adventurer
Klengenberg and investigations by the anthropologist Vilhjalmur
Stefansson brought to light the apparent presence of European genes
among a small group of Eskimos who had previously been isolated from
all contact with modern white man. This tribe, known as the
Haneragmiut, lived at the heart of the region I have just been
discussing, in southwest Victoria Island. Entries in Stefansson's diary
include descriptions such as:

' There are three men here
whose beards are almost the color of mine, and who look like typical
Scandinavians . . . men with abundant three-inch-long beards...The
faces and proportions of the body remind of "stocky," sunburned, but
naturally fair Scandinavians ...One woman, of twenty, has the delicate
features one sees in some Scandinavian girls, and that I have seen in
only one of the half-white girls to the westward (Mackenzie River), and
in her to a less degree than here.'

That such copy would be
overplayed by newspapers is completely understandable, and these people
were immediately dubbed the "Blond" Eskimos. Soon Stefansson was being
confronted with accusations of fraud no less vehement than those that
met Stanley when he announced
his finding of Livingston. Even Stefansson's professional
stature as
an anthropologist was brought into question when a specialist in
ethnology
on a later expedition, Jenness, was apparently unable to locate this
tribe.
Furthermore, Jenness tried to explain any such characteristics which
might
exist as pathological deformities, and noted the absence of any
European
skeletal features. The controversy then quickly escalated when Jenness'
own
scientific method as well as the accuracy of his observational reports
were
called into question.Certainly to use Stefansson's
observations as an argument for the ultimate absorption of the Norsemen
into the Eskimos is, in any case, going too far, for there is not
available any dependable knowledge of the relative population levels of
either the Norsemen or the Eskimos at the time. Even to use the "Blond"
Eskimos as an argument for
the very presence of Norsemen in the central Arctic is going too far
without
more agreement among anthropologists. The entire subject of
Eskimo
anthropology is a highly factionalized and controversial one,
and
a not-too-out-of-date survey of the relevant literature has been given
by
Maksim Levin. In any case, modern studies of genetic drift make it
clear
that one must hesitate about jumping to conclusions when dealing with
such
small populations. (James Robert Enterline, VIKING AMERICA,
Garden
City, 1972:135-138; emphases supplied).

Enterline's ameliorating closure notwithstanding,
the critics still seem to have had their way, with the subject rarely
broached or even acknowledged up to the present day. Perhaps it is
still a polarized issue, but even if Stefansson's original material is
bought into question it remains difficult to dismiss the reports of
atypical (if not European) featured Inuit encountered by many early
arctic explorers. This aspect was in fact well exemplified by Major
General A.W. Greely in a 1912 paper entitled: "Stefansson's Blond
Eskimos" (National Geographic Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No.12
December 1912:1225-1238). The title may have been a trifle unfortunate,
but the quotations themselves seem stark enough, and it is hard to
imagine that the principal recorders--many of whom left their names
across the Canadian Arctic--would have had any reason to be untruthful
about what they saw and recorded; e.g.,

1821 Sir Edward Parry on the
shores of Lyon Inlet1821 Dr. Alexander Fisher, surgeon of
Parry's expedition1824 Capt. G. F. Lyon, near Cape
Pembroke, Southampton Island.1833 Capt. John Ross in his journey to
Back River.1821 Sir John Franklin, near the mouth
of the Coppermine River.1837 Thomas Simpson, west of the
Mackenzie River.1838 John Dease on the lower Coppermine
River.1838 Thomas Simpson near the mouth of
the Coppermine River.1848 Dr. Richardson during his "boat
journey through Rupert Land."1849 Dr. John Rae.1825-1827 Sir John Franklin in the Cape
Bathurst region.1851-1852 Capt. R. Collinson, in Walker
Bay, Prince Albert Sound.1865 Pere Emile Petitot, Cape Bathurst.1868 Pere Emile Petitot, Fort MacPherson
(on the Peel River).Dr. Alexander Armstrong, surgeon of
McClure's ship Investigator, who found that:"the Eskimo of Wollaston land were
living
under the same conditions as when visited by Stefansson."

Noteworthy here are the references to Coppermine and
Prince Albert Sound, i.e., those regions originally associated with
Stefansson's "Blonde Eskimos" as shown below in Map 5a-- a wide range
of locations that extends from the east coast of Greenland, through the
Northwest Passage
and Canadian Arctic Archipelago almost as far West as the Yukon coast:

Map 5a. The Distribution of the Blond
Eskimo (after Greely 1912)

What happened to
the latter, assuming that they did
indeed exist? Who knows. About all one can say here is that there were
certainly visitors to Coppermine the year following the publication of
Greely's paper, as Kenn Harper recounts in his Arctic-Travel
History (original link:
http://www.arctic-travel.com/chapters/historypage.html )

In November of 1913, two
Oblate
priests, Jean-Baptiste Rouvière and Guillaume LeRoux, were
murdered
by Inuit near Coppermine. The crime, caused by misunderstanding on the
part
of the Inuit and insensitivity on the part of the priests, was
investigated
and two Inuit were taken to Edmonton in 1917 for trial. They were
sentenced
to life imprisonment at Fort Resolution, but were released in 1919. An
inevitable result of this case was the establishment of new police
posts and the undertaking of regular patrols in the region.

No necessarily invited guests, it would seem, which
makes one wonder about the reception of the first priest to visit the
Cowichan
Valley on Vancouver Island (the suggested location for Vinland in the
present
hypothesis). He too, it seems, outstayed his welcome, though not quite
so
forcibly in this case:

It is uncertain where or when
the first Europeans set foot in the Cowichan Valley. The first recorded
presence was that of Reverend Father Honoré-Timothée
Lempfrit, a Roman Catholic missionary who arrived at the mouth of the
Cowichan River in 1850... Although he was probably encouraged to travel
to the region at the invitation of Chief Tsulchamet, by May 1852 he ran
into difficulties with the Cowichan First Nation and was ultimately
driven from the valley... The cause of Father Lempfrit's problem has
never been fully discovered, but it was serious enough that James
Douglas upon hearing from the Cowichan themselves immediately ordered
a canoe sent to retrieve the priest. Douglas later felt compelled to
discourage
"the hasty zeal of the Roman Catholic Missionaries" in Cowichan
traditional
lands. (Daniel P. Marshall, THOSE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY: A History
of
the Cowichan Peoples, Rainshadow Press, Duncan, 1999:96-97).

Unfortunately, in the Pacific Northwest the tide of
"progress" washed in more and more outsiders, and with them came the
inevitable
contagious diseases from which the local populations had little or no
immunity.
The result was the 1862-63 smallpox epidemic in British Columbia, which
started after a ship from San Francisco docked at Victoria, British
Columbia in March 1862 (Marshall, 1999:123). Although the fatality rate
in the province was reportedly as high as 62 percent, losses among
Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands were far worse, for they were to
receive a double visitation. A
1999 television program on Nan Sdins Park by the Historylands series
described what took place there during the last month of 1863:

Trade with the White
Man may have brought
greater prosperity, but it also brought diseases--measles, diphtheria,
cholera
and chicken pox. The true devastation was still too come--the
introduction
of smallpox into the community was documented by Francis Poole, a miner
at
SkinCuddle Inlet:

"December 1863. At New Aberdeen we had
compassionately taken a European on board as a passenger via the Queen
Charlottes
to Victoria. As ill-luck would have it, what should he do but fall sick
of
smallpox some days before we arrived at the coppermine. I entered a
vehement
protest against his being put on shore, knowing only too well the
certain
consequences. Scarce had the sick man landed when the Indians again
caught
it, and in a very short space of time, some of our best friends of the
Nan
Sdins had disappeared forever."
Over ninety per cent of the population died. The
prosperous village was decimated to the point that it was no longer
viable
as a permanent settlement. By 1884 there were only thirty former
inhabitants
encamped there."
(see also: Page 5; Gwai
Haanas National Park by Great Canadian Parks )

Further south the Coast Salish were among those who
gained a measure of protection by way of vaccines during the1862-63
outbreak,
but even so it seems that there were some already willing to consign
them
to past history, as Daniel P. Marshall reports:

An
examination of the "Committee on Public Expenditure" Report, 3 May
1864, reveals that $9700 had been budgeted in
1863 and 1864 for the express purpose of extinguishing First Nations'
claims
to the Cowichan, Chemainus, and Saltspring Island Districts, monies
that
were never spent. One suspects that with the full impact of the 1862
smallpox
epidemic having taken its terrifying toll on the Cowichan Nation, the
colonial
government held back these funds, perhaps believing that they were
witnessing
the end of the people. A British Colonist article from 1866
lends
credence to this commonly held Hwunitum' view of the time.

The grasping avarice of the
white man and the seizure of Indian lands has been the cause of
internal wars
and troubles in other countries and may perchance be the same in this.
Should such happen, where would be the advantage of the supposed white
settlement upon this coveted land? ... The Indian lands must be kept
for the Indians, and the Government should, by every means in its
power, induce them to cultivate their patches... who begrudge them a
few acres for his necessities? It is probably true that the race is
destined to disappear, not so much from its own fault as the vices that
have been brought into it by the 'chosen people;' but for heaven's sake
let us not make the years they have to live those of misery, or
inductive of revenge, but seek to assuage the troubles, so as to
enable the last man to sit down by the placid stream of the Cowichan,
and
sing of his ancestors, lament the loss of the tribe, but at the same
time
say, God's will be done! (Source: Daniel P. Marshall. THOSE WHO
FELL FROM THE
SKY: A History of the Cowichan Peoples, Rainshadow Press, Duncan,
1999:116).

Home truths and fine sentiments, though patronizing,
but as for the last line--God's will be done? In this appalling
context?
Small wonder that Alexander von Humbolt, on witnessing a South American
slave
market condoned by European priests in 1800 should observe: "Religion is able to comfort people for
wrongs performed in its name" (Smith,
1990:230). And little wonder again, that most who have read the various
journals of "Conquest" in the "New World" can feel anything but abject
shame and horror at the atrocities inflicted time and time again
against innocent peoples. Peoples whose only crimes were that they held
different beliefs and occupied rich territories desired by those who
arrived with superior weapons, self-justifying dogmas and scarcely a
shred of human decency among them. At which point it seems relevant to
return to the question at hand, i.e., why the Greenland Vikings
departed when they did, where they might have gone and what they may
have attempted to accomplish in doing so.In view of the understanding that the Vikings often
merged themselves into the various cultures they encountered, one might
suspect that
the move may have been motivated at least in part by an awareness of
the
growing instability and changes that were about to be unleashed across
the
World. Instability that in some instances became a form of insanity
that perhaps
reached its peak with the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition, the
burning
alive of the likes of Giordano Bruno in Europe, and the annihilation of
entire cultures in the Americas.

THE
GREENLAND DUALITY IReturning to the Vinland issue, for the reasons
stated earlier and those that follow here I do not intend to give a
blow-by-blow account of the Viking Sagas or their attested variants,
nor do I intend
to dispute in depth other interpretations of them or the suggested
locations for Helluland, Markland and Vinland.
Instead I have adopted the view that if a duality existed in the case
of
Helluland that it may have been more than mere poetic licence and that
the
duality was likely far more extensive in addition. The concept of
duality
does not originate here, it was in fact discussed by Joseph Fischer
some
years ago in an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia entitled: PRE-COLUMBIAN
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA :

History is silent as to later
voyages to Helluland, but the role played by the Land of Stone is all
the more important in legend and song, in which its situation changes
at will. The Helluland of history lay to the south of western
Greenland, but the poetic Helluland was located in northeast Greenland.
To reconcile both views, Bjorn of Skardza devised his theory of
two Hellulands, the greater in northeastern Greenland, and the smaller
to the southwest of Greenland. Rafn arbitrarily located greater
Helluland in Labrador, and the lesser island in Newfoundland. (Joseph
Fischer: Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, transcribed by
Michael Donahue; emphases added).

The last two allocations notwithstanding, the notion
of duality provides a functional fit for the present hypothesis,
particularly the Helluland located "to
the southwest of Greenland" when it is
understood that "Greenland" is North America and that it is the West
Coast of North America that is
under consideration. Thus it is suggested that a true duality may well
have
existed throughout to protect and preserve those Vikings who had left
Greenland
in defiance of the Church. Or alternatively, that the confusion was
injected by the Church itself to mask the reality of the Vikings' deeds
and the scope of their endevours. But either way, there are names that
are indicative or descriptive, names that commemorate events, and some
that honour groups and individuals. But now and again there are names
that simply do not fit at all, such as "Greenland."Green? This large island is more than ninety-five
percent snow and ice at the best of times. In fact only Antarctica is
less deserving of the description. But so what. This is the name that
has come down to us, and that's all there is to say about the matter.
Or is it? From a purely historical
viewpoint perhaps so, but when it comes to the Norse Sagas the
suitability
of the names assumes critical importance.In the Sagas, (whether singular places or "lands")
it is the salient features that provide the names, and
unequivocally so. Thus, for example, the traditional Viking lands: Helluland
or "Flat-Rock" land after a place noteworthy for flat rocks, Markland
noteworthy for forests and timber, and Vinland for
grapes
and/or vines. To which may also be added Bear Island(s) equally
noteworthy
for bears. Whither "Greenland" then? Or more pertinently, what should
it
have been called in keeping with the above? But then again is "Ice"
really
the salient feature of Iceland, or is there something else available
that
describes it just as well, if not better? How about Fireland
? as John Stefansson pointed out in 1907, noting that:

It is as rational to call this
Iceland as it is to call an ice-sheet measuring several hundred
thousand square miles Greenland...Iceland is the centre of a sub-ocean
volcanic region, and no region of Earth has an equal title to be called
the "Land
of Fire."(John Stefansson, "The Land of Fire," National
Geographic Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No 11, Nov 1907:741-742.)

and green the latter it assuredly is in many
locations, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Moreover, with this
configuration Helluland, Markland and Vinland
still lie to the west of "Greenland," as do the "Bear" islands,
"Wonder Beaches," "Keelness," the mild climate
and all the fauna and flora referred to in the Sagas, including the
salmon,
halibut, whales, timber, wild wheat, and not least of all, the
grapes representative of Vinland itself--to be precise, the Oregon-grape,
specifically, Tall Mahonia (Mahonia
aquifolium ) that still grows in the Cowichan Valley in the
southwest corner of Vancouver Island--where the Cowichan Lake region
is: "the Warm country," or, "land warmed by
the sun." (G.P.V and Helen Akrigg, British
Columbia Places Names, 3rd. Edition, UBC Press, Vancouver, 1997:54)

Thus the suggested Fireland-Iceland-Greenland
shift does surprisingly little to the Sagas in a negative sense. In
fact, certain aspects of the geographical side of the matter now begin
to fall
into place. For example, the west coast location for Vinland remains in
accord with Adam of Bremen's understanding as early as 1070 CE, that
Vinland was to the west of "Greenland." Moreover, there is the strange
fact that although there are Eastern, Middle and Western Viking
Settlements on present-day Greenland, all three are in fact located
entirely on the west coast of the island. But from the
shift in perspective suggested here, this is not "Greenland" anyway,
but simply "Iceland," which might well explain why this peculiarity
exists. It also provides a new insight into the often quoted criticism
levelled at Eirik the Red, namely that he deliberately overstated the
virtues
of the new "Green" land to encourage settlers to move there from
"Iceland."
Here again the shift in perspective suggests that Eirik the Red was
entirely
truthful, and indeed even a settlement on the west side of Ungava Bay a
little
further south would have been a vast improvement, for here one would
not
only be below the Arctic Circle, but also near the Treeline and regions
where
both freshwater fish and caribou would be plentiful.

Then there is the
question of what effect this
might have on reports of specialized trade items obtainable only from
"Greenland." Even without this complication Viking ships must surely
have plied arctic waters beyond the "Western" Settlement if only to get
to the northern hunting grounds, not to mention round-trips to Iceland
and Scandinavia to trade
their shipments of rare northern goods, i.e., ivory, skins and birds of
prey
fit for kings alone, the Gyrfalcons. Then again, perhaps the scarcity
was
also a function of the Greenland Duality, for as far as the trade in
the
latter was concerned Kirsten Seaver states:

Difficult to catch even in
Greenland, gyrfalcons were worth a fortune by the time they reached
Europe; the Duke of Burgundy is said to have ransomed his son from the
Saracens as late as 1396 for twelve Greenland falcons. In 1276, just
when Archbishop Jon was fine-tuning
his laments, the Norwegian king sent the English king a princely gift
of
three white and eight grey gyrfalcons, a large number of ermine pelts,
and
a complete whale's head with all the baleen still attached. In the
spring if 1315, Edward II of England sent a man to Norway to buy
falcons and hawks--hardly a sign that these birds were now a glut on
the market.On the contrary, by 1337 gyrfalcons had
grown in such short supply that Bishop Hakon of Bergen was obliged to
write to King
Magnus that he had not been able to obtain for either white or grey
falcons
from an unnamed "Scottish page," and the situation was no better three
years
later. When the Bergen Bishop wrote in November of 1340 to report to
King
Magnus about tax collections, he noted that Raimundo de Lamena, who was
supposed
to receive falcons in payment for apothecary goods, had not been able
to
get more than two or three birds from the royal palace in Bergen. These
incidents
strongly suggest that both white and grey gyrfalcons, which had been a
prized
Greenland export since the beginning of the settlement, were valuable
as
ever in the second quarter of the fourteenth century. If anything,
there
was a shortage of supply. (Kirsten Seaver, The Frozen Echo,
Stanford
University Press, Stanford, 1996:82.)

That "Greenland" Gyrfalcons appear to have been a
high demand, low availability item seems indisputable, yet invoking the
"Greenland Duality" it is a simple matter to find a likely source, one
that naturally enough is located on the "green land" that is North
America. Nor is it a matter of scouring maps either, the answer is
clearly indicated in archaeologist Thomas Lee's neglected work
concerning Norse indicators on Ungava Peninsula, namely his:
"Archaeological findings, Gyrfalcon to Eider Islands, Ungava
1968." (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Travaux
divers, No 27 1969).

The corollary to the
Greenland Duality also
suggests something else--that Eastern, Middle and Western Settlements
should also
exist on the "Green-land" that is North America. Whether the Eastern
Settlement lies in the Ungava Bay region or much further south is
debatable, as, no
doubt, is a presumed location of a Middle Settlement somewhere in the
Central
Arctic. As for a Western Settlement, this may or may not be found
somewhere
close to Yakutat Bay in Alaska (or better, perhaps, neighbouring Icy
Bay
a little to the west). Moreover, once the latter possibility is
accepted
other aspects of the matter also fall into place--not least of all the
statement
by Nicholas, Abbot of Thingeyre (d. 1159) that:"south of Greenland lies Helluland, next lies
Markland,
and from there it is not a great distance to Vinland the Good." This is the indicated path south from the Yakutat region
of
southern Alaska shown on Map 4. But nevertheless it still remains a
voyage
from "Greenland" to Vinland by way of Helluland and Markland, and it is
also
a route generally in keeping with the times and distances outlined in
the
Sagas.But what of the initial long haul from modern
Greenland through the Northwest Passage itself? Would there or should
there be any
mention in the Sagas of this lengthy and hazardous journey--one that
would
take all summer and at times necessitate wintering in the arctic
regions
with all its hardships and privations? Had any obvious references been
included
in the Sagas the matter would have been understood long ago, but
nevertheless, with due reservations concerning the contents of the
Sagas outlined in the Introduction, consider the following passage from
the Sagas that concerns a voyage from "Iceland" to "Greenland" that
apparently took an entire summer
to complete:

I plan to fall back on the
promise of my friend Eirik the Red, which he made when we parted from
each other
in Breidafjord, and if things go as I would have them, I mean to
go
to Greenland this summer.'... Thirty men decided to undertake
this
voyage with him ... In due course they put to sea. As they set off the
weather
was fine, but once they were out at sea the good wind dropped; they
were
caught in a great storm, and made slow progress the whole summer
through. Next sickness broke out in their company, and Orm
died, as did Halldis his wife, and half their ship's company. A big sea
got up, and they suffered great
hardship and misery of all kinds, yet with it all reached Herjolfsnes
in
Greenland right at the start of winter. (Gwyn Jones, The
Norse Atlantic Saga, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1964;
emphases supplied)

Place names cause difficulty here, though that is to
be expected now; but in any case, what other voyages--inclement weather
notwithstanding--could possibly last the whole summer through? And then
again, what might be expected if an unscheduled wintering-over in the
Arctic might have taken place--perhaps a function of late-arrival
caused by unusual ice conditions and/or adverse weather? Even if one
was familiar with the requirements for wintering-over in the northern
regions late-arrival would pose great problems, not only in
terms of game and seal-oil, but also the stockpiling of fish that
although plentiful in mid and early summer, might still not be readily
available later in the season. Nor for that matter are all regions of
the arctic necessarily plentiful even in summer--a situation
exacerbated by the need for ships in transit to proceed on schedule --
hence, perhaps the slow progress and the sickness that accounted for
half the ship's company mentioned above.Next, the Greenland Duality may also be applied to
the initial settlement in Greenland itself, i.e., as quoted in the
Introduction, the reference to "the open sea" notwithstanding :

This expedition set out in the
year 986 (or possibly 985), and its leader was Eirik the Red. He had
originally come to Iceland from Norway but had been declared an outlaw
in his new country, whereupon he had sailed his ship westward across
the open ocean in order to
seek a land which other sailors had barely glimpsed. He became
the actual
discoverer of Greenland, and he spent three whole years
exploring
its south-western coasts. Following his return to Iceland he
took
the initiative in organizing this large expedition and assumed
leadership of the pioneers who were to colonize the new land. He must
indeed have been a remarkable man. The voyage was a hazardous
one,through the drift-ice and the stormy
seas along the coasts of Greenland. Fourteen ships arrived
at last in the south-western part of the island; the rest were
either shipwrecked or forced to turn back. The newcomers settled along
strips of land in the shadow of the great inland glacier and prepared
for a new life.(Helge Ingstad, WESTWARD TO VINLAND: The Discovery
of Pre-Columbian Norse House-sites in North America, (translated
from Norwegian by Erik J. Friis) Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, 1969:15;
emphases supplied)

Here once more the information can be understood in
terms of the Greenland duality; the first three years referring to the
initial exploration of the "south-western coasts" of the Pacific
Northwest from a base perhaps located between Kodiak Island and Yakutat
Bay. Secondly, the dangers and difficulties of the Northwest Passage
itself, i.e.,

The voyage was a hazardous
one, through the drift-ice and the stormy seas along the coasts
of Greenland.
Fourteen ships arrived at last in the south-western part
of
the island; the rest were either shipwrecked or forced to turn
back.(Helge Ingstad 1969:15)

And thirdly, an eventual "Western" settlement on the
southern coast of Alaska, i.e., "in
the
south-western part," perhaps at Yakutat, or
Icy
Bay with its nearby glaciers.

MAP 1c. THE
GREENLAND DUALITY

THE
GREENLAND DUALITY IIEASTWARD TO
GREENLAND AND VINLAND
In view of the complexities associated with the
Greenland Duality it may be useful to consider next the
implications of a possible eastern
route to "Greenland" and
the Pacific Northwest. In short, instead of
voyaging westwards
through the
Northwest Passage, consider now an alternative passage from
Norway that is largely and essentially an
"overland" trip to the east,
i.e.,

A.
Jón
Jóhannessen
"A
brief
description of the world preserved in a manuscript from about 1300
(A.M. 736 I, 41o) contains the following paragraph:

To the north of
Norway lies Finnmark (Lapland); from there the land
sweeps north-east and east to Bjarmaland (Permia), which
renders
tribute to the king of Russia. From Permia there is uninhabited
land
stretching all the way to the north until Greenland begins.
To the
south of
Greenland lies Helluland and Markland; and from there it is not far to
Vinland, which some people think extends from Africa . . .33

Different
versions of this geographic sketch are contained in a few other
manuscripts. The date of the original version is not known, but the
geographic concepts it reflects can be traced back to the Commonwealth
Period. The description of a circular and unbroken land mass extending
from Bjarmaland (Permia) to Greenland, and south from there to Africa,
is the chief characteristic of these accounts. The earliest source in
which this feature may be quite
clearly detected is Historia
Norwegiae,
and as a whole its underlying concept is based on amazingly extensive
knowledge of geography, even though in places it is tinged with
superstition. The idea of lands extending from Greenland to Russia may
imply previously obtained information about Spitsbergen and Novaja
Zemlja. The southern edge of the polar icefield is only a short
distance away from these lands and, in part, may have given rise to the
idea of a continuous land mass in these
regions. 33Grønlands historiske Mindesmaerker.
III, pp. 216-218; Alfraeði
Islenzk. I, p. 12. (Jón
Jóhannessen,
Íslendinga Saga: A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth. Trans.
Harald Bessason, University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 1974:104-5;
emphases supplied).

B.Arthur
Middleton Reeves
"Somewhat
similar in character to the above notices is the brief reference
written in the vellum fragment contained in AM. 764, 4to.
This fragment comprises a so-called ' totius orbis brevis descriptio,'
written probably about the year 1400. Upon the second page of this '
brief description' is the passage:

' From Biarmalanduninhabited
regions
extend fromthe north, until
Greenland joins them.South from
Greenland lies Helluland, then Markland. Thence it is
not far to Wineland....'

(Arthur
Middleton Reeves, The Finding of
Wineland the Good: The History of the Icelandic Discovery of America.
Burt Franklin, New York 1895: 17; emphases supplied)

MAP 1e. EASTWARDS
TO GREENLAND AND VINLAND

In spite of
uncertainities concerning Norse geographical
knowledge during the period in
question Jóhannessen'sfinal observations
may reasonably be extended eastwards below Novaya Zemlya given that the
route from Norway is initially north to
"Finnmark," after which "the land sweeps north-east to "Bjarmaland"
(Permia), which
renders tribute to the king of Russia." Moreover, we are told next that
from this region onwards: "there
is uninhabited land all the way north until Greenland begins," whereas the Reeves' variant
states "uninhabited regions extend from the north
until Greenland joins them."But
either way,
after we reach "Greenland" we find ourselves--if not on familiar ground per se--then at least on a
familiar route described by familiar phrases, for Nicholas, Abbot of
Thingeyre's:

"South
of Greenland
lies Helluland, next
lies
Markland, and from there it is not a great distance to Vinland the
Good"

is clearly echoed in
the translations provided above by Jóhannessen
and Reeves, i.e.,

A. Jón
Jóhannessen:"To the south of
Greenland lies Helluland and Markland; and from there it is not far to
Vinland."B. Arthur
Middleton Reeves:
"South from Greenland lies Helluland, then Markland. Thence it is not
far to Wineland."

In other words, proceeding northwards from Norway, then basically
eastwards via
Finland and Russia, the "overland" route (shown on Map 1e adjacent to the
Arctic Circle for
simplicity)
readily terminates
at the
Bering Straits. Once across the latter and on to the "Western
Greenland" region (Icy Bay--Hanes Alaska, perhaps) we again reach the
starting point
for the voyages south to Helluland, Markland and Vinland. Thus,
(theoretically at least) we have "arrived" in the Pacific Northwest en route to the same
western Viking lands as before, but this time from the east. Those who wish to reject the notion of
duality applied here to Iceland, Greenland, and the traditional Viking
lands mentioned in the Sagas are of course free to do so. However, they
should at least
be aware that the western hypothesis provides a far superior selection
of
locations and technical data, so much in fact that a distinct location
of
Vinland can be readily deduced in this context. Moreover, where eastern
interpretations of the Viking sagas are at their weakest, e.g., in
terms of bears, mountains and wild grapes, etc., the corresponding
elements cause no difficulties whatsoever in the Pacific Northwest.

The real issues
are how the Vikings got there and
where else they might have gone.